Pentax K Casa Grande AZ

The Pentax K100D is up against some pretty stiff competition including Canon's Rebel XT and Nikon's D50. At 6 megapixels the K100D looks to be holding the short straw in this contest since most of its rivals sport at least 8 megapixel resolution. Read more.

Pentax K

Pentax K100D Digital SLR Review

Reader Score: 8.58 (out of 10)

Review: "Pentax has introduced its digital doppelganger, the Pentax K100D. Point & shoot digital cameras have dominated the photography marketplace for most of the past decade, but reasonably priced entry level dSLRs are now the fastest growing segment of that lucrative market. Entry-level digital SLRs allow photographers to move to the next creative level by providing affordable access to modular imaging devices and interchangeable lenses.

The K100D is up against some pretty stiff competition including Canon's Rebel XT and Nikon's D50. At 6 megapixels the K100D looks to be holding the short straw in this contest since most of its rivals sport at least 8 megapixel resolution, but the K100D is fairly cheap ($699 with 18mm-55mm/f/3.5-f5.6 Pentax DA zoom), dependable and robustly built, simple to operate, and capable of producing consistently excellent results.

Serious amateur shooters may have a few issues, but family snap-shooters, P&S digicam users just making the jump to a dSLR, student photographers, casual shutterbugs, and old timers with a collection of Pentax glass will appreciate the K100D's reasonable price, robust construction, operational simplicity, use of available anywhere AA batteries, image stabilization, and solid performance." ...

The Panasonic Lumix FX50 is an average digital camera with a few above average features and below average image quality. The camera itself has a 3.6x lens, optical image stabilization, and 3-inch LCD screen packaged in a bland design. Still, the chunk of plastic and metal is less than an inch thick and slides into pockets and purses for easy transportation.